Photograph © Robert Eric Shoemaker
I had the privilege of attending the 86th Highlander Homecoming Celebration in New Market, Tennessee! As the Public History Graduate Assistant at UofL, I’m tasked with creating a digital timeline for the Highlander Research and Education Center. My group and I camped under the shadow of the beautiful Smoky Mountains, swatting plenty of bugs along the way. During the night, I heard the sound of fiddles tumbling down the hillside. Overall, aside from some minor back pain, it was one of my best camping experiences.
During the weekend, I attended many workshops and conversations: archiving movement history, Palestinian liberation through photography, food justice with Jim Embry and April of Fresh Stop Market, and the tail-end of Black Joy. I connected with some folks from the wonderful Community of Living Traditions.
One of the events I enjoyed the most was the play What the Water Tells Me. Described “as a collaborative theater piece,” it combined “hip-hop, puppetry, and dance” to “explore the waves that course through our veins, create the beats that move us, transmit the media that shapes us, and fill the rivers that can lead us back home.” What the Water Tells Me followed “…two children’s journeys to adulthood, as they navigate the changes that occur in their hometown and within themselves when a large utility company comes to town and threatens the waters that raised them.”
I can’t wait to return!
